Coffin



(No Model.)

. D. R. GOULD.

Patented July 23, 1895.

No. 543,152. I

17.91. y 16 on. 4

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I UNITED. STATES PATENT FFI-CE.

DEMMON R. GOULD, OF GLENS FALLS, NEW YORK.

COFFIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,152, dated July 23, 1895.

Application filed June 30, 1894. Serial No. 516,188.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DEMMON R. GOULD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Glens Falls, in the county of Warren and State of ishalole.

To this end the invention contemplates a combined wood and cement coffin that shall be comparatively simple and inexpensive'inwhich will retain its original shape and qualities even after the decay of any exposed wooden portions thereof.

With these and other-objects in view, which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fdlly described, illustrated, and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective'view of a coffin and its lid or cover constructed in accordance with this invention. tudinal sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 is a similar transverse sectional view of the same. Fig. 4 is a detail in perspective of a section of the coffin-box without the cement or plastic filling or covering, showing several different forms of anchoring or retaining means for the cement filling or covering. Fig. 5 is a detail vertical sectional view of the construction shown in Fig. 4.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a wooden coffin-box constructed in any suitable shape and in the proper sizes, and said coffin-box comprises the connectedside and end boards 2 and 3, and the bottom board 4, secured to the inner lower edges of said connected side and end boards.

In the present invention the upper and lower sides of the bottom board 4 and the inner and outer sides of the connected side and end boards are adapted to be covered or plastered over with a plastic or cement filling Fig. 2 is a central vertical longi (No-model.)

or covering 5, which may be made of any suitable cement, concrete, or other plastic material that can be readily applied to the sides and bottom of the coffin-box in a soft pliable condition and which will subsequently harden or solidify into .a solid stone-like mass that will form the inner and outer walls of the coffin and will be perfectly air and water tight, while at the -same time substantially imperishable.

In applying the cement or plastic covering to the bottom and sides of the box it is necessary to make a provision for holding or anchoring the same to the wood, and to effect this several different anchoring orretaining means may be employed, such as illustratedin Fig. 40f the drawings. As illustrated in this figure of the drawings, both the outer and inner sides of the connected side and end boards, as well as the upper and lower sides of the bottom board, may have attached thereto a series of parallel retaining-slats 6, having undercut edges 7 to securely hold the cement or plastic material when the same is applied, and these slats may be arranged on the side and end boards as well as the bottom board of the box transversely or longitudinally thereof, or both transversely and longitudinally, as may be found most desirable. By reason of employing the slats 6 the same form cementgrooves therebetween, and an obvious modification of this arrangement would be to provide the boards comprising the box with transverse or longitudinal dovetailed cementgrooves 8, which would serve to anchor or retain the'eement in position in substantially the same manner as the slats 6.

By reference to Fig. 4 of the drawings it will be noted that in addition to the slats 6 and the grooves 8 other anchoring or cementretaining means are shown, such as headed nails or similar projections 9 or a series ICO of the rails 11, and such rails act in the capacity of a protecting-rim for this portion of the covering or filling to protect the edges thereof and prevent the same from chipping and breaking off.

The upper edge of the coffin-box l is surrounded by the upper inner and outer battenrails 13, which are secured to the outside and inside of the box at its upper edge and are held spaced therefrom to leave an intervening filling-space 14, corresponding to the lower filling-space 12, and also adapted to receive the cement covering or filling that is placed both on the outside and inside of the box. The upper outer and inner batten-rails 13 are arranged on both sides of the side and end boards of the box and project above the plane of the same, or at least above the plane of their upper edges, so as to leave a fillingspace above the upper edges of said side and end boards of the box, that receives the plastic covering or filling 5, which is smoothed off flush with the upper edges of the rails 13, so as to form a cement top edge for the cofiin, which will outlast the outer and inner battenrails between which this portion of the covering or filling is placed.

The portion of the cement covering or filling that lines up both the inside and outside I of the coffin-box is smoothed off flush with the upper and lower batten-rails, so that there are no projecting edges beyond such batten-rails, and when thus completed the coffin-box will possess the qualities noted and the cement portion thereof will be so placed as to comprise the substantial part of the coffin, so as to provide a coffin that will last an indefinite time.

The lid or cover 15 for the coffin essentially comprises a rectangular frame-rim 16 and an intermediate lid or cover-board 17, secured within the frame-rim 16 at a point interme' diate of its upper and lower edges, and said board 17 is provided on both its upper and lower sides with any of the cement anchoring or retaining means hereinbefore described and is adapted to be covered or faced over with a cement or plastic covering or filling 18, which is lined off flush with the upper and lower edges of the frame-rim 16, so as to be protected thereby.

The construction of lid or'cover for the coffin is substantially the same as the construction of the body of the coffin itself and completes therewith a combined wood and cement coffin that is absolutely air and watertight and is practically imperishable.

Changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is'- In a coffin, the combination of a wooden box body, lower batten rails 11 extending continuously around the lower outer edge of the box bodyand secured in position ata distance from the outside of the box body to leave an intervening filling space, said lower batten rails also projecting at. theirlower edges below the plane of the bottom of the box body, upper inner and outer batten rails 13 arranged inside and outside of the box body at the upper edge thereof and secured in position at a distance, respectively, from the inner and outer sides of the box body to leave intervening filling spaces, said upper inner and outer batten rails also projecting at their upper edges above the plane of the upper edge of the box body, and a cement or plastic covering facing the entire inside and outside of the box body and filled in the intervening spaces formed between the box body and the upper and lower batten rails, said cement or plastic filling being also lined up flush with the outer sides of the outer batten rails, the inner sides of the inner batten. rails, the lower projecting edges of the lower batten rails, and the upper projecting edges of the upper batten rails, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the' foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

DEMMON R. GOULD.

Witnesses:

S. B. GOODMAN, FRED J. MUNDY. 

